As I predicted, the NHL didn’t have the onions to discipline Tampa Bay’s Steve Downie for leaving the bench to join — and escalate — an altercation with the Rangers. To me, it’s clear as day that Downie sat on the boards during the whole Artem Anisimov-Vinny Lecavalier incident Thursday,…

Not going to get all wrapped up in who did what on a lopsided scoresheet, though I’m sure you all enjoyed the heck out of it, and you should have. Instead, how about numbers?: 17-6-4, second best record in the improving East and fewest regulation losses in the NHL; 8-2-2…

Courtesy of the NYR: NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES December 11, 2011 (Game 27, Home Game 12) Madison Square Garden – New York, New York Team Notes: – The Rangers defeated the Florida Panthers, 6-1, tonight at Madison Square Garden, to sweep their weekend back-to-back set. The Blueshirts out-scored their…

Game 27. Rangers close a back-to-back for the fourth time this season. They haven’t lost in regulation in any of the seven games in that situation this year (3-0-1 in the first; 2-0-1 in the second). They are 23-8-3 in the second game of back-to-backs since 2009-10. Erik Christensen goes…

John Tortorella spoke at his pre-game presser about subbing Erik Christensen for Sean Avery tonight, about how hard it is to get something out of guys playing five minutes a game, about the importance of getting Brandon Dubinsky going, and about having the HBO cameras and microphones in the lockerrooms.…

Very nice way to end a two-game losing streak and a very complete win over the Baby Buffaloes for No. 2,500 in franchise history, for No. 4 in a row on the road, No. 13 in the last 17 games overall. Right back at it tonight against the Cats (7:30…

Game 26. The ticket contest is now closed. No more entries. The Rangers have lost two in a row (technically 0-1-1). They haven’t gone three without a victory since the first three games of the season (0-1-2). Or, you could say they haven’t gone three without a win on this…

Entries for our ticket contest begin now, and are open (one entry per person) until the “It’s Go Time!” post appears shortly after 6:30 p.m. tonight. Scroll down to the previous thread for all the rules. Only entries included in this thread will count. ———————- Pre-game notes courtesy of the…

OK, tomorrow we will do a predict-the-score contest, the winner getting two tickets to the Ottawa-Rangers game at MSG Jan. 12, courtesy of our Bonehead donor. So let’s review the rules, shall we? (answer: yes). 1) This is the easy part. You pick the score, then a bunch of tiebreakers:…

Our gracious donor has given us some more tickets to give away for games in January. The first is Jan. 12 against Ottawa. We will do a contest involving predictions for tomorrow night’s game in Buffalo. Details will follow tonight, and the contest entries will begin tomorrow morning and last…

I do not condone what Artem Anisimov did after that beauty of a short-handed goal put the Rangers up 2-1. You know by now that he went down to a knee, aimed his stick like a rifle toward goalie Mathieu Garon and pumped a few shots. Certainly not the end…

First, here’s Guy Boucher’s take on the Anisimov/Lecavalier incident: “It was a good rallying moment for us. Definitely, we wanted to stick together tonight. We know we weren’t going to win it individually. We were going to win it as a team and I think that was a gesture that…

Had some technical/deadline issues thanks to the shootout, earlier deadlines and a brand new computer system. So I never made it to the lockerroom. I did get to John Tortorella’s presser. The coach did not allow Artem Anisimov to address the media regarding his rifle-shot celebration that touched off a…

Game 25. First of three in four nights, and four in six. Rangers still one away from 2,500 all-time wins. Anton Stralman makes his second start as a Ranger, in place of injured Michael Sauer (concussion). Steve Eminger moves up to the second pair with Michael Del Zotto. Erik Christensen…

John Tortorella spoke about Michael Del Zotto’s progress, about what he expects from Anton Stralman tonight, and how his team has, for two seasons, dealt with injuries without being affected. Here is the pre-game press conference: John Tortorella: